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Tower Pack (Tower Pack DLC Level)
The Tower Pack is the single longest level, and with few contenders, the hardest level to date in the Metro Video Game Series, and is the centerpiece of Metro Last Light's Tower Pack DLC. Overview The level begins with the player avatar, the injured Captain of an ambiguous organization (either the Rangers or Metro Command) having been called into helping local scientists Chukotski and Anastasi in testing a combat simulation program codenamed: "The Tower". After a brief introduction, the captain enters the simulator and begins testing the simulation. Gameplay for the Tower Pack is fairly simple. Essentially, the goal is for the player to play defensively in a small area - to kill and outlast all the enemies that appear in increasingly more difficult waves. This is, to say the least, easier said than done. Beginning each level the player must choose their preferred weapons (all free of charge) for the next encounter, and, for three of the five levels, choose additional difficulty modifiers that might effect play. Military grade rounds, granted for each kill and granted as bonus for each technical kill, have a special function in levels as the currency for purchasing in-level bonuses which amount to more ammunition, or AI soldiers to assist the player. Score is an important part of the Tower Pack, if one is interested in their performance and the leaderboards. Score can be increased by the difficulty playing on, difficult modifiers, as well as performance in-level such as keeping additional gates sealed and performing technical kills. Technical kills include: *Long Distance kills (roughly over 20 meters, but may vary). *Headshots (on human opponents only). *Double-Kills (two kills within a second or two apart). *Multikills (three or more kills within a second or two apart). Level 1 - Enter the Reich Level 1, though simple once understood, begins by throwing a lot of information at the player at once. As soon as players spawn in, they are given 15 seconds to assess their battlefield. The level is summed up best a hall the main feature of which, is a long trench that has several balconies leading across it, and staircase leading down to a soggy bottom. The area will soon become host to a battle between the captain and the simulated forces of the Fourth Reich. There is one place that enemies will spawn from at first: the archways at the far end of the hall - where the countdown timer and round marker resides. At the same time however, the soldiers of the Reich have the ability to activate gate switches, which in turn create more areas for them to spawn from. The act of activating a gate makes a loud alarm sound and takes roughly five seconds to complete. It can, however, be prevented if the player kills the soldier activating it. Round 1 Round 1 is about as simple as things get in the Tower Pack, a large group of Nazis spawn in slowly and attack with Bastards. Players should keep in mind that while the bastard is only somewhat accurate and has only a modest damage threshold, the shots are quite rapid. Several soldiers attacking at once have the overwhelming ability to slow a close-range player dramatically, and make a sniping player's aim fly all over the place. After all the enemies of the first wave are dealt with, there will be a several second silence, signaling the half-way point of the level. Following this, a shout is made by the simulated soldiers on the other side of their opening fog-gate and the attack resumes. This second wave may be with a slightly higher spawn-rate or with slightly more enemies but the difference from the first wave is rather negligible. Round 2 Round 2 begins with combat identical to that of Round 1, save for a somewhat increased spawn-rate of enemies. At the have-way point however, more armored soldiers with surprisingly accurate Shamblers begin marching in. These soldiers are remarkably deadly close-range, in some cases have the ability to soak up twice the damage as the standard soldiers fought thus far, and seem to almost exclusively go after the player. While certainly points for concern they needn't necessarily be prioritized for, especially if the player is still armed with grenades. Player Tips *In many ways this level becomes very easy if the player is ready for enemies waves. Prevention is key when playing on any difficulty, but proper preparedness can make the level especially manageable when playing on the Ranger difficulties. **As soon as you spawn in, quickly switch to the Claymore Mines, and plant them in the two areas the enemies will be heading for: the upper left balcony, and the front right staircase that heads down. In these two areas are gate switches. Three claymores on the harder to defend left stairs (perhaps, one per level) and then two protecting the right switch guarantee that the player has a backup strategy should they need to reload or heal. **When the battle begins, take cover on the left side of the bridge you spawned in on, and make your own firing line to the two enemy entrances with a long distance weapon - preferably the Kalash. Open three or four shots towards an enemy's upper chest as they spawn in - this will net a long distance kill, as well as a headshot in most cases. If you are taking too much damage from oncoming fire, or must reload, retreat left slightly to the pillar and quickly perform your self-maintenance. Grenades can also be effectively thrown while ducking in and out of cover. From around the column, this strategy also allows the defending of the left stair switch, and the right stair switch. Replenish ammo at every break - at the mid point of the first Round, the beginning of the second, and the mid of the second. **On Ranger Hardcore, it is common for this strategy to net around 29,000 points, with an upper limit ranging around 35,000. Level 2 - Nosalis Nightmare For many players, regardless of how little trouble with Level 1 they had, this second level is a massive roadblock. To it's credit, the level is generously large. The map is of another hall, like in Level 1, but with a very large opening area that splits off into another wet lower ground and huge balcony, that eventually join back together again in a much smaller back platform. Despite it's size however, there isn't much room to maneuver when under attack by the level's enemies: Nosalises. Far more fearsome than their 2033 counterparts, Last Light's common Nosalises are intensely damaging, especially on the Ranger difficulties, and have an attack rate unmatched by any other mutant in the game. Unlike Level 1, the Nosalises of Level two already have a dozen places to spawn from at the front of the map - with only one extra, a large metal gate that can be defended from at a distance. In addition, this is the front level which includes extra challenges: Darkness, which removes the ambient (yet not the Omni or Spot) lighting and a Huge map size, which adds another Round to the battle. Regardless of prefered play-strategy, combat will have to be both long-range and close range. Round 1 While much of the level beyond it turns difficult quickly, Round 1 is quite merciful. Nosalises slowly spawn in from the bright front area's piping and quickly make their way to where the player is situated. As things pick up in the second wave, several more Nosalises spawn in at the same time - encouraging the player to plan and backpeddle. Round 2 Round 2 is much like the first, though with the inclusion of Nosalises attaching the single gate at the front. The spawn rate remains roughly the same, through both parts of Round, though the player must also keep attention on the gate - lest they face an extra 10 - 15 Nosalises in each subsequent Round. The second wave of Round two also sees the inclusion of irradiated green Nosalises, which, though speculated to be the same in vanilla Last Light, here have roughly 1.5x more health than their standard counterparts and move much quicker and more aggresively. Round 3 Round 3 is when, for many players, the difficulty spikes. While temporarily not having to worry about the gate any more, this Round sees the inclusion of winged Nosalises. The winged Nosalises will begin to spawn in before the common Nosalises, in both parts of the Round, at a high rate. Unlike the Nosalises before, these will stay high, climbing from pillar to pillar, before landing, staying put, and producing a sonic scree at the player. Not only is the scree annoying, slightly damaging, and difficult to triangulate the source of, but as the regular Nosalises begin to spawn, it's aggravating slowing effect exponentially multiplies the deadliness of even a single attacking Nosalis by allowing every one of it's strikes to hit the player. What more playing in darkness makes winged nosalises significantly harder to see from a distance, until they are already attacking the player. By this time, however, it may be too late. Round 4 As a rule of thumb, if one has survived Round 3, it is possible for them to survive Round 4. The lengthy Round 4's high spawn rates of both common and winged Nosalises is accompanied by Nosalises once again attacking the front gate. Huge Round 5 Round 5 is a retread of Round 4 with nominal changes to Nosalis patterns or spawn rates. Like Round 3, if one can survive past Round 4, they can likely do so again in Round 5. While the spawn rates of standard, green, and winged nosalises remain high the Round is mercifully perhaps only two thirds the length of Round four. Player Tips *Weapon selection is a very important part of the level. Nosalises are fast, and hardy - but vulnerable at long range. Because of this accuracy is important at a distance, and fire rate is important up close. Playing soley with your favorites isn't likely to get you very far, especially the harder difficulties. **The Kalash, for most players and strategies, is overall the best weapon of choice when combating Nosalises. It remains servicable at long distance, as well as effective at close range. It's only major drawback is that the player must dedticate a lot of time to managing ammunition, and must be extraordinarily contientious to not fire of military grade rounds too early. This later factor may become a significant issue for players on Ranger difficulties, when mid-firefight accidentally switching to military grade rounds, firing, then having to switch back to not waste them, can result in an infurriating death. **The Revolver is a strong choice for early waves, especially on the Ranger difficulties, as about 90% of the time, one shot is enough to kill a Nosalis. It does, however, rapidly outlive it's usefulness as Nosalis spawn rates increase - making it next to useless at Round 4 or 5 with exception to being a finishing weapon. **The Ashot, though very attractive with it's high damage output, chronically suffers like other shotguns from a low fire rate. These factors make it a good choice for early waves, and nice for when winged Nosalises decide to remain still, but render it crutch as the waves and number of enemies progress. **The AKS-74U though decent, suffers from a number of setbacks that keep it from being a prime choice. While it's frequency of shots outmatch the Kalash, it's fire rate and damage output are similar to that of the bastard. The higher fire rate and lower damage threshold, however, make it inefficient against Nosalises on higher difficulties, save for when multiple appear close together. Along with the Kalash's first-person design, it again repeats the problems with one might have with firing off military grade rounds too early. Ammunition must constantly be on the mind of players. **If one does not prefer the Kalash, or is playing on Ranger difficulties, the Bastard is likely the second or third best choice. While it's damage output is less than stellar (still taking about a third of a magazine to kill a single Nosalis) and it's accuracy is unimpressive, the Bastard greatly benifits from prominently displaying it's ammunition directly in front of the player. What drawbacks the Bastard may have with it's damage, may be in fact made up for with a high fire rate - as the Bastard can somewhat effectively hold back up to three Nosalises in a clup, with bullets while chipping away at all their health. Nosalises recoiling from it's high fire rate give the player precious miliseconds for to help reload. Ammunition is here, too a concern. **With a high damage output, the four-barreled Duplet is a good choice for players playing on lower or standard difficulties, though it objectively loses value on higher ones. To undestand why is in the mechanics of higher difficulties: the higher the difficulty level, the more damage ratios are increased - everything dies faster on higher difficulties. When combating Nosalises on lower difficulties, one can waste a large amount of time, as well as automatic or Revolver ammunition when combating at close range, or they can expend a one double-shot from a Duplet to a Nosalis to rapidly kill it. On higher dificulties, the automatics and revolver get more and more effective as they cause more damage and the Nosalises carry less health. This comes to the point where switching to a Duplet to exact extreame damage becomes very much overkill, detrimental to the player's efficency as they perform the weapon's slow reload. If the player is solid on a weapon then deciding between the Duplet and the Ashot becomes an excercise in deciding the weapon-reload system they would rather have, once slowly every shot, or twice every two shots. Players should also keep in mind, that, with the overkill of the Duplet, ammunition may become a concern. *There is no single solid strategy to handling Level 2, as the inclusion of different enemy types can rapidly change the needs of a situation. **Round 1 is by far the easiest level on the Ranger Difficulties, on account of the Revolver being an instant-kill. Skilled players can stand and fire at Nosalises from the balcony with only the rare Nosalis making it's way all the way to the top in the first part, and switching off to a better close range weapon once three are in the front area at the same time. If things are going well, the player needn't take ammunition from the cache. **Round 2 plays the exact same way. Waiting a second for three Nosalises to spawn at the gate, then throwing a single grenade can be a nice way to net an easy Multikill. Taking ammunition once the round is over is highly recommended. **Winged Nosalises are the ultimate challenge for the Revolver, as they move quickly and it takes two to three bodyshots to kill one. Stand near the front and combat the winged Nosalises until either standard Nosalises start spawning, or the winged Nosalises start attacking. As soon as their begins, back out of the situation as quickly as possible and retreat to the back. Throwing incendiary grenades in a decent method to occupy winged Nosalsies at the back (who are easier to hit and slower to attack in general), and the extra space is handy when combating standard Nosalises. **For the end of Round 3, as well as for all of Round 4 and 5, the strategy is the same. Keep forward if the situation is good, then duck back at the first sign of something going remotely wrong. Igniting the entire stage so that Nosalises come to you damaged is a strong strategy. While Claymores are essentially useless against fast-moving and hopping Nosalises, every one can be one less Nosalis to shoot at, and one less to "gank" up on the player. Additionally: never hesitate to purchase more ammunition, unless on the last part of the last wave, and military grade rounds can make all the difference. **A score of 90,000 is uncommon but not unheard of for the five waves on Ranger dificulties. Level 3 - Defenders Level 2 - Defenders Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 Round 4 Huge Round 5 Player Tips * When purchasing soldier the player is advised to get many of them at once. They usually cover eachother well and prolongue eachothers life. Level 4 - Blood-Red Square Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 Round 4 Huge Round 5 Player Tips Level 5 - Last Stand Round 1 Round 2 Final Round Player Tips Victory Leaderboard Trivia